The husband of an Iraqi woman who was found beaten to death in March in their El Cajon home has been arrested in connection with her death, El Cajon police said Friday.

Kassim Alhimidi, 48, was booked into jail Thursday evening on one count of first degree murder in the death of Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old mother of five. He was arrested at the El Cajon police station, authorities said.

Alhimidi is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.

After months of hard work, we determined this homicide was the result of domestic violence and not a hate crime, El Cajon Police Chief Jim Redman said at a news conference.

Alawadi was attacked at the familys Skyview Street home March 21. She was struck on the head at least six times and suffered four skull fractures, according to court records. She died in a hospital three days later."she fell, I tried to catch her with a hammer. It was an accident. I panicked"
Her family said a note was found near her body, telling them to go back where they came from. The family said a similar note had been left on their door weeks earlier, but they did not report the incident or keep the note.

The early implications that the slaying was a possible hate crime spawned international attention, especially among the Muslim community. Peace rallies and candlelight vigils promoting peace and a Muslim womans right to wear a head scarf spread throughout the world.CAIR rejoiced
In an interview a week after the killing, her husband told the Arabic Al Arabiya News: My wife was a victim of xenophobia."and the fact she wanted to divorce me. ME! A loving and benevolent wife killer! I couldn't stand the insult"
But court records obtained at El Cajon Superior Court showed a family in turmoil.

#4
"My wife was a victim of xenophobia." Is that like being islamophobic? Two of CAIR's favorite terms to describe us infidels. The husband who accident "dropped the hammer" on his wife has picked up on these terms of endearment.

Another mighty one has fallen. A former trustee of Carnegie Mellon Univ. is convicted of laundering $0.6 billion - not exactly chump change. Do you know where your savings are today, Rantburgers??
EL PASO, TEXAS -- A Texas lawyer and former Carnegie Mellon University trustee pleaded not guilty Thursday to laundering more than $600 million for a Mexican drug cartel. Marco Antonio Delgado waived his arraignment Thursday, essentially entering a not guilty plea, during a hearing in federal court in El Paso.

Lots of history about these birds in this article. Enjoy -- even the Syrian rebels are using them...
The French military boasts a powerful army with nuclear submarines, ballistic missiles and spy satellites. For lawmaker Jean-Pierre Decool, however, the country is neglecting one of its mightiest weapons: its flock of carrier pigeons.

Glorified for their roles in World War I, pigeon squadrons have long been removed from active duty because of the introduction of more reliable, all-weather communication systems.

And yet the French Defense Ministry still operates a military dovecote--Europe's last--with 150 birds drafted into the 8th regiment for communication and transmission. The birds reside at the Mont-Valérien fortress in Suresnes, to the west of Paris. While a corporal sees to their upkeep and training, they are not ranked as a strategic asset.

"That's a big mistake," says Mr. Decool, who visits the birds at their home near a pigeon-post museum dedicated to the history of the winged servants.

The center-right lawmaker draws hawkish scenarios--a nuclear catastrophe, a hurricane, a war--where racing homers would be the last-resort messaging network. In the Syrian city of Homs, insurgents defying the regime of President Bashar al-Assad are relying on carrier pigeons to communicate because their walkie-talkies are out of reach, he says.

In July, the 60-year-old sent French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian a letter asking him to clarify France's carrier-pigeon strategy. Two weeks later, the response arrived in the mail.

The minister said that French forces were equipped with self-sufficient communications systems that could resist power failure, cyber or electromagnetic attacks. Should France face a real need for carrier pigeons, the minister said, it could rely on "the precious support" of the country's pigeon fanciers--a flock of folks he estimates to number about 20,000.

Last year, Mr. Decool became concerned that France could be outdone in carrier-pigeon expertise by China, which maintains a platoon of 50,000 birds with 1,100 trainers for communication in border and coastal areas, according to the Chinese Ministry of National Defense.

But a plan to hatch ideas with the Chinese landed on deaf ears. Then-French Defense Minister Gérard Longuet said the country couldn't stoop to such tactics. In response, he said there was a risk Chinese pigeons would "carry French messages back to China!"

759. The following will be read to the command on the 10th of November, 1921, and hereafter on the
10 November of every year. Should the order not be received by the 10th of November, 1921, it
will be read upon receipt.

(1) On November 10, 1775, a Corps of Marines was created by a resolution of Continental
Congress. Since that date many thousand men have borne the name "Marine". In memory of them it is
fitting that we who are Marines should commemorate the birthday of our corps by calling to mind the
glories of its long and illustrious history.

(2) The record of our corps is one which will bear comparison with that of the most famous
military organizations in the world's history. During 90 of the 146 years of its existence the
Marine Corps has been in action against the Nation's foes. From the Battle of Trenton to the
Argonne, Marines have won foremost honors in war, and in the long eras of tranquility at home,
generation after generation of Marines have grown gray in war in both hemispheres and in every
corner of the seven seas, that our country and its citizens might enjoy peace and security.

(3) In every battle and skirmish since the birth of our corps, Marines have acquitted themselves
with the greatest distinction, winning new honors on each occasion until the term "Marine" has come
to signify all that is highest in military efficiency and soldierly virtue.

(4) This high name of distinction and soldierly repute we who are Marines today have received
from those who preceded us in the corps. With it we have also received from them the eternal spirit
which has animated our corps from generation to generation and has been the distinguishing mark of
the Marines in every age. So long as that spirit continues to flourish Marines will be found equal
to every emergency in the future as they have been in the past, and the men of our Nation will
regard us as worthy successors to the long line of illustrious men who have served as "Soldiers of
the Sea" since the founding of the Corps.

#5
Affairs are not a BFD. Bonking the hired help is. It creates incredible tension within an organization. And there are lot's of permutations beyond the direct superior-subordinate connection that can create situations an organization cannot allow to fester.

As my father told me when I got my first job, Don't dip your quill in the company inkwell.

#6
"As my father told me when I got my first job, Don't dip your quill in the company inkwell."

HAHAHA!!!
Good one Nimble.
The truth is - that these days these contractors have unending "training" about sexual harrassment, equal rights, and legal issues about people in the workplace. There is literally so much of this stuff that it makes you want to puke. Of course, now that Lockheed has had this problem ... it will be cited as a reason to double the ethics training. I feel sorry for all the SOB's who will have to work for them in the future. :-)

Russia would like to see US Senator John Kerry replace Hillary Clinton once the US Secretary of State steps down at the start of President Barack Obama's second term, a news report said on Thursday.

US officials said on Wednesday that Mrs Clinton intended to keep her promise to leave the White House administration after the presidential ballot, despite her boss having firmly secured a new four years in office.

Speculation has been rife that Washington's top foreign policy assignment may go to either the Senate Foreign Affairs committee chairman Kerry or Washington's UN ambassador Susan Rice.

An unnamed source in the Russian foreign ministry told the Kommersant business daily that Moscow would "much prefer" to see Mr Kerry take the post.

The source said Ms Rice was viewed as "too ambitious and aggressive" in Russian diplomatic circles. The UN ambassador had fought fiercely with Moscow over its refusal to back firmer action in the Syria crisis in the past year.

"It would be more difficult for Moscow to work with Washington" if Ms Rice became Secretary of State, the unnamed Russian official said.

The source added that Moscow's only fear was that Mr Obama may choose against naming Mr Kerry because this could see the Democratic Party lose an important Senate seat.

[Dawn] Police in Pakistain have cooled for a few yearsDrop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! five men after a village council ordered a father to hand over his nine-year-old daughter as compensation in a rape case, officers said Friday.But she's got the body of a twelve-year-old...
A group of elders in the remote rural area of Bahalak in Punjab province made the ruling to settle a year-long dispute between a farm worker and an influential local landowner, local cop shoppe chief Mohammad Khalid told AFP.

The worker, Arshad, who goes by one name, was accused of involvement in the abduction and rape of landowner Ali Sher's daughter, Khalid said.

"The jury on Sunday decreed that Arshad would marry (off) his daughter Sidra to Ali Sher's 22-year old son Maqsood," he explained.

"Arshad agreed verbally but Sidra, who is too young, remains with her family," he said.

The marriage was not formally solemnised but the village council made Arshad agree to pay Sher 400,000 rupees ($4,000) -- a vast sum for a farm labourer in Pakistain -- if he did not honour the ruling.

Khalid said Arshad and four council members had been locked awayDrop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!The practice of "Wani", giving daughters as compensation to end vendettas, is illegal and punishable by up to seven years in jail.

#1
I'm going to go out on a limb + quess that the poor girl biologically had already begun having her period, thus technically making her eligible for this particular swap + marriage, even though Western + prolly many Paki Perts would commonly agree she's too young for marriage???

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.